Catastrophe, Armageddon and Millennium:
Some aspects of the Bábí-Bahá'í exegesis of apocalyptic symbolism

Abstract: A wide range of sometimes disturbing Abrahamic and related religious texts and traditions have warned humankind of an impending eschatological calamity or catastrophe. Additionally the sacred books of the world not only predict global catastrophe but also an ensuing millennial world peace. This paper is a preliminary consideration of selected Bábí-Bahá'í doctrines expository of apocalyptic symbolism associated with major Abrahamic religious prophecies. I will endeavour to show that many of the Bahá'í interpretations of end-time catastrophe are best viewed in their evolving historical contexts.

A brief consideration will be made of the war of the last days referred to in the canonical Apocalypse, the Book of Revelation, as the battle of Armageddon (Rev. 16:14). A cursory examination of dimensions of the catastrophe and ensuing millennial peace by the central figures of the Bahá'í religion will be set down. For several decades, some Bahá'ís have been troubled by expectations of concrete global catastrophe. Awareness of the fact that Bábí-Bahá'í sources anticipate numerous "catastrophes" with aspects that have already been outwardly realised or spiritually interpreted is not widespread in the contemporary Bahá'í community. On occasion, both the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh undertook a courageous demythologisation of apocalyptic scenarios anticipated in Biblical and Islamic scripture and tradition. It is the Bahá'í belief that the "catastrophe" or the apocalyptic upheaval of the last days has very largely, if not completely, been realised in the troubled yet brilliant 20th century.

The catastrophe

The sacred books of the world predict both global catastrophe and world peace. Bahá'í scripture anticipates, extends, and interprets such prophecies; sometimes literally, sometimes spiritually, and occasionally in both these ways. These writings speak about an imminent catastrophic calamity or "apocalyptic upheaval." They predict the subsequent appearance of universal peace; an imminent secular "lesser peace" (sulh al-akbar; lit., "greater peace") and a future a spiritual world order of Bahá'u'lláh, the "most great peace" (sulh al-a`zam).

In the Bahá'í view, the coming of peace will be gradual, and to some extent realised in the 20th century. In the light of the Bahá'í teachings it is possible to argue convincingly that with the end of the cold war and the increasing trend towards disarmament, international co-operation, and globalisation that the "lesser peace" has all but been realised. Yet this secular, politically oriented "lesser peace" is not comparable to that peace which is spiritually rooted; the future truly millennial peace which is more than a virtual cessation of many intractable global conflicts. Realistic about the establishment of global, political peace, 'Abdu'l-Bahá predicted multi-national disarmament. The Montreal Star of 11 September 1912 reported that he had stated that nations would be forced into peace in the 20th century. Humanity would sicken over the cost of warmongering.[1] Prior to the unfoldment of that secular disarmament which is the "lesser peace," varieties of "calamity" or "catastrophe" are clearly anticipated in Bábí-Bahá'í scripture. It is clear, however, that Bahá'í scripture does not expect or support a literal apocalyptic collapse of the cosmos or an absolute "end of the world."[2] Scriptural writings that appear to suggest this possibility are not interpreted literally.

It is the Bahá'í position that the appearance of a new religion is itself a revolutionary, a "catastrophic" religio-political event; a "Day of the Lord" and "Day of Judgement" which causes the "limbs of mankind to quake."[3] It precipitates inner and ultimately outer change; an end to existing "global disorder" through the appearance, in the language of the apocalypse, of "a new heaven and a new earth." The advent of a new religion involves new, revolutionary ways of thought and action. The religion which culminates in "peace" comes also as a civilisation changing "sword," "woe" or "catastrophe."[4]

The nature of the diverse eschatological catastrophes predicted in the sacred books of the world are too numerous and complex to be detailed here; including, for example, the disruption of the cosmos, earthquakes, eclipses, wars, famine, and pestilence, and so on. Neither can their multi-faceted Bábí-Bahá'í interpretations be set down in detail. The following few notes attempt to summarise some key Abrahamic religious predictions of eschatological "catastrophe."

Hebrew Bible and the New Testament

An apocalyptic "end" or cosmic catastrophe is predicted or presupposed in numerous texts within the Hebrew Bible. It is one of the senses of the (eschatological) expression "Day of the Lord [YHWH  Yahweh]." The prophet Zephaniah (fl. late 7th cent. BCE) boldly proclaimed that YHWH would destroy "all the inhabitants of the earth" on the "Day of his wrath" (see Zeph 1:7ff). Isaiah had it that the whole world would be punished for its evil on the "Day of the Lord" (Isa. 13:6f). A horrendous catastrophe is envisaged in Zech 13:8-9 which reads,

In the whole land, says the Lord, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive. And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, "They are my people"; and I will say, "The Lord is my God."[5]

According to Matthew's Gospel, Jesus' disciples asked him, "What will be the sign of your [Jesus'] coming and of the end of the world."[6] The Greek here was only loosely and inadequately translated in the authorised version as "the end of the world." More recent Christian translations such as the revised standard version have "close [completion] of the age" or something similar. This is not to say, however, that a multitude of apocalyptic predictions presupposing a collapse of the cosmos and an end to existing civilisation do not exist in the New Testament (e.g. in the Apocalypse) and elsewhere in the Bible. These predictions are generally understood by Bahá'ís to refers to the "end" (=completion) or fulfilment of an era or religious cycle.

Such apocalyptic events as the darkening of the "sun" and the "moon" (Mk. 13:24b=Matt 24:29; cf. Lk. 21:25), the qur'anic reference to the "conjoining of the sun and the moon" (Q. 75:9) or according to Islamic traditions "the rising of the sun in the west" are not interpreted wholly literally in Bábí-Bahá'í scriptural texts. The apocalyptic implications of such words of Jesus as "heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away" (Mk. 13:31 = Matt. 24:35 = Lk. 21:33) are likewise not interpreted literally in Bahá'í sacred writings.

Qurán & Hadíth

The central importance of Muslim belief in the twin concepts of "God and the Last Day" (Alláh wa'-l yawm al-akhir[ah]) is constantly enunciated (20+ times) in the Qur'án.[7] There are several references to an eschatological "calamity" in this holy book (revealed piecemeal between c. 610 and 632 CE). One of the brief (11 verse) Meccan súras (Q. 101 cf. 13:31; 69:4) is entitled al-Qár'ia, which has been variously translated, "the striking" (Sale); "the smiting" (Rodwell); "the calamity" (Pickthall) and "the clatterer" (Arberry); the word has connotations of "sudden misfortune" and eschatological judgement.[8] In the Qur'ánic "Súra of the Resurrection" (al-qiyáma; 75:24-5) we read, "Upon that day faces shall be radiant gazing upon their Lord; and upon that day faces shall be scowling, thou mightest think the Calamity (fáqirah) has been wreaked on them."[9] Another verse contains an important reference to the támmah or "great catastrophe" as Arberry rendered it,

Then, when the Great Catastrophe (támmah) comes upon that day when man shall remember what he has striven... (79:34)[10]

Both Sunní and Shí`í sources contain material bearing upon end-time catastrophe. In Muhammad Báqir Majlísí's Bihar al-anwár ("Seas of Lights"; a massive Shí`í encyclopaedia quoted quite frequently by both the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh) there exists a section based upon texts of the Qur'án, commentary and various traditions of the Twelver Imáms entitled, "The blowing into the Trumpet and the destruction of the world (faná' al-dunyá) (cf. Q. 55:26 below) and that every soul shall taste death."[11]

The theme of the "destruction of the world" (faná' al-dunyá) is closely related to the exegesis of Qur'án 55:26:

Biblical and Qur'ánic (Arabic) "catastrophe" terminology is utilised, extended, and interpreted in Bábí-Bahá'í scripture. As I will show interpretations offered in Bahá'í texts include the conference of Badasht, the religion of the Báb, Bahá'u'lláh's proclamation to the kings and rulers of his time, and the two world wars of the 20th century.

The "catastrophe" predicted in the "Súra of the Terror" (Q. 56) and elsewhere, for example, was understood to be the revolutionary 1848 Bábí conference of Badasht at which the Báb's claim to be the promised Qá'im was announced and the Islámic law formally abrogated. This was tantamount to an apocalyptic "catastrophe." 'Abdu'l-Bahá in his Memorials of the Faithful mentions Bahá'u'lláh's suggestion that the Súra al-wáqi'ah ("the Terror", "Inevitable") be read at this time.[12] This súrah begins,

When al-wáqi'ah ("the Terror") descends... abasing, exalting, when the earth shall be rocked and the mountains crumbled, and become a dust scattered, and you shall be in three bands  Companions of the Right (O Companions of the Right!), Companions of the Left (O Companions of the Left!) and the Outstrippers (sábiqún) those are they brought nigh the Throne, in the Gardens of Delight. (Q. 56, trans. Arberry)

Shoghi Effendi wrote in God Passes By, "On that memorable day the 'Bugle' mentioned in the Qur'án was sounded (nuqrih-' náqúr), the 'stunning trumpet blast' was loudly raised (nafkhih-' súr), and the 'Catastrophe' (támmih-' kubrá) came to pass."[13]

In his Lawh-i Ishráqát, Bahá'u'lláh refers to the Báb as "the Harbinger of His Great Revelation which hath caused the limbs of all mankind (faqrá's al-umam) to quake."[14] The religion of the Báb was a revolutionary phenomenon; a kind of "catastrophe" preparatory to the emergence of the Bahá'í Faith. A cursory examination of the brief but turbulent history of the Bábí religion bears this out.

There are many texts within the writings of the central figures of the Bahá'í religion and its authoritative and secondary interpreters that in one way or another bear upon 19th and 20th century "catastrophe[s]." The relevant passages are best viewed chronologically and in historical context  a task that can only be summarily attempted or sketched here.

The writings of Baháulláh

A fairly large number of Bahá'u'lláh's writings bear directly or indirectly upon the theme of latter-day "catastrophe". It is stated that various of his revelatory "Tablets" (alwáh) as expressions of the creative Word are tantamount encapsulations of end-time, catastrophic "trumpet blasts" precipitating revolutionary "terror" and calamitous change. Certain of his major Tablets to the Kings, for example, were accorded suggestive qur'ánic rooted titles by Bahá'u'lláh himself. In a Tablet to Nabíl [-i Zarandi?], which at one point dwells on the theme of his revelations in the light of end-time "judgement" or "catastrophe", he states that,

Each one of them [the "Tablets to the Kings"] hath been designated by
a special name. The first hath been named "The Rumbling [Shout]" [al-Sáyha, Q. 54:31... etc], the second "The [Catastrophic] Blow" [al-Qári'a, Q. 101] the third "The Inevitable [Calamity]" [al-Háqqah, Q.
69], the fourth, "The Plain" [al-Sáhirah, Q. 79:14], the fifth "The
Catastrophe" [al-Támmah, Q. 79:34] and the others, "The Stunning
Trumpet Blast," [al-Sákhkhah, Q. 80:33] "The Near Event," [al-zulfah,
Q. 67:27] "The Great Terror," [al-faza' al-akbar, Q. 21:103] "The
Trumpet," [al-Súr, Q. 6:73...] "The Bugle," [al-Náqúr, Q. 74:8] and
their like...[15]

It is of particular interest to note that Bahá'u'lláh, alluding to Q. 79:34 in various of his writings of the late 'Akká period cites an earlier (c. 1869/70?) tablet  dating to around the time of the universal proclamation to the kings and rulers of the earth  containing "perspicuous verses"[16] in which the following line is contained:

Hath the Catastrophe (támmah) come to pass? Say: Yea, by the Lord of Lords![17]

It is indicated in Bábí-Bahá'í scripture that at the moment just prior to the declaration of the Manifestation of God when none have yet grasped his purpose or come to faith, purposeful "creation" ceases to be; all but his Being, "the Face of God" are annihilated. There follows mystic "recreation" through the Divine Grace and through the assent to faith of his disciples and followers.[18]

In this connection it is also worth noting that Bahá'u'lláh specifically stated that power had been taken from "two ranks amongst men: kings and ecclesiastics",[19] both secular and religious sources of authority. In The Promised Day is Come (1941), Shoghi Effendi reckoned the century from the 1840s towards the 1940s was "one of the most cataclysmic periods in the annals of mankind" as far as the "fortunes of royalty are concerned."[20]

As early as 1858 in his 63rd Persian Hidden Word  the only one specifically addressed to the "peoples of the [earth] world" [(bigú `ay) ahl-i ard]  Bahá'u'lláh refers to an "unforseen" (ná-gahání = "suddenly"; "unexpectedly"; "unawares") "calamity" (balá[']="trial"; "tribulation") and an "grievous retribution" ('iqáb-i 'zaímí =[infliction of punishment]) awaiting humankind on account of its misdeeds.

In a well-known extract from a Persian tablet of Bahá'u'lláh to Muhammad Ibrahím Khalíl-i Qazvíní dating to around 1878 CE[21] it is stated that,

The world is in travail (munqalab = lit. "turned upside down") and its
agitation (inqiláb= lit. "overthrow", "alteration") waxeth day by day.
Its face is turned toward waywardness and unbelief. Such shall be its
plight that to disclose it now would not be meet and seemly. Its
perversity will long continue. And when the appointed hour is come,
there shall suddenly appear that which shall cause the limbs (lit. "flanks
of the body") of mankind (faqrá's al-'álam) to quake ("tremble").
Then, and only then, will the [Divine] Standard be unfurled (lit. "the
signs, banners [al-a'lám]be lifted up"), and the Nightingale of
Paradise (lit. 'anádil = "nightingales") warble its melody.[22]

In the Advent of Divine Justice (1939)[23] and at the beginning of The
Promised Day is Come (1941)[24] and elsewhere, Shoghi Effendi cites various
apocalyptic prophecies from miscellaneous tablets of Bahá'u'lláh;

The time for the destruction of the world and its people hath arrived (hangám faná'-yi 'álam va ahl-i án rasíd amad).

The hour is approaching when the most great convulsion (inqiláb-i akbar) will have appeared.

Soon will the present-day order be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead.

By Myself! The day is approaching when We will have rolled up the
world and all that is therein, and spread out a new Order in its stead.

The day is approaching when its [civilisation's] flame (nár) will devour the cities, when the tongue of Grandeur will proclaim: "The Kingdom is God's, the Almighty, the All-Praised (al-mulk li-láhí al-azíz al-hamíd)."[25]

Such passages could be greatly multiplied. Among other things, as we shall see, Bahá'ís believe that these texts prophesy the wars of the 20th century and beyond as well as possible apocalyptic upheavals. At this point some further Bahá'í interpretation[s] of "catastrophe" and of the "battle of Armageddon" can be sketched.

The battle of Armageddon

One of the expressions indicative of end-time "catastrophe" as final conflagration, unique to the New Testament Book of Revelation, is the battle "at the place which is called in Hebrew Armageddon" (Rev. 16:16) which is a "battle of the great day of God, the Almighty" (16:14). The loose, conflated English transliteration of the Greek [h]ar'-mageden, "Armageddon" (so AV [KJV]) is most probably correctly read as Har-magedon (NRSV; cf. the ancient mss. readings), the place-name of the final eschatological conflict. In "Hebrew" this signifies (an unknown) "mountain of Megiddo" (cf. LXX Zech 12:11 = Ma[e]geddo). Megiddo is, in fact, the name of an ancient city (ruined since the 4th Cent. BCE). It is now but a 70 foot mound (hardly a mountain) known in Arabic as Tell el-Mutesellim ("the Tell of the Governor") located 60 miles north of Jerusalem in the western section of the Jezreel (= Gk. Esdraelon) valley; more or less at the foot of or just 7 miles from the southern end of Mt. Carmel.

Armageddon, understood as "Mount Megiddo," is now not infrequently
identified with Mount Carmel. E. Lohmeyer (d. 1946, a German commentator
on the apocalypse), for example, reckoned that Armageddon (= Har-magedon)
should be translated "Megiddo range" and signify Mt. Carmel.[26] Many others
have thought similarly though it should be admitted that the philological sense
and geographical meaning of Armageddon remains something of a mystery. The
Biblical mention of Megiddo very likely indicates something geographically
near Mount Carmel.[27]

Having brilliantly and succinctly reviewed the complicated theories of the
past, Jon Paulien writes in the 1990 Anchor Bible Dictionary entry "Armageddon" that none of the many theories "preclude the possibility that the author of
Revelation saw elements of the ideological battle on Mount Carmel as decisive
in the final battle between good and evil."[28] He further writes, "while Megiddo
was not a mountain, it wasn't a valley either  it was located on an elevation
overlooking the Plain of Jezreel... Since the city was located at the foot of the
Carmel range, 'mountain if Megiddo' could easily be a reference to Mount
Carmel (1Kgs. 18:19, 20; 2Kgs. 2:25; 4:25). It was on Mount Carmel that fire
was called down to prove that Yahweh was the true God (cf. Rev. 13:13,14). It
was there that the false prophets were defeated (cf. Rev. 16:13-16)..."[29]

It is also fascinating to note that one of the Qumran texts ("Dead Sea
Scrolls"), part of a fragmentary commentary (peshar) on texts from the book of
the prophet Isaiah (4Q161 or 4QpIsaa), seems to relate the messianic implications of Isaiah 11 and the defeat of the enemy of the last days referred to by
means of the cipher "Kittim" (= inhabitants of Kition, a Phoenician colony on
Cyprus[30]) indicating Greeks, or Romans;

...[The interpretation of the] decree concerns the coming end of days.... [trem]bles when he [the Messiah?] ascends from the vale of Accho [=
Akká'] to wage war against...[31]

Though the text and meaning of this fragment is far from clear it has been argued that "We must therefore think of the Messiah landing at Acco (Ptolemais) as the nearest point of entry to the NT battlefield of Armageddon."[32]

Armageddon as world war

On a number of occasions 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke of Armageddon in connection with the "Great War"' of 1914-1918. In an address delivered at Stanford University in October 1912 he is reported to have stated,

We are on the eve of the battle of Armageddon, referred to in the 16th
chapter of Revelation. The time is two years hence, when only a spark
will set aflame the whole of Europe. The social unrest in all countries,
the growing religious skepticism antecedent to the millennium are
already here. Only a spark will set aflame the whole of Europe as is
prophesied in the verses of Daniel and in the Book [Rev.] of John....[33]

The first world war initiated something of a concrete "Armageddon." In a
sense, the "Armageddon" of the first world war helped topple the Ottoman
Turkish powers which had imprisoned Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá (whom it
planned to assassinate) and inhibited the spread of the religion they championed.
Interestingly, a military manoeuvre associated with the plain of Armageddon on
19 September 1918 ensured the safety of the then head of the Bahá'í religion
('Abdu'l-Bahá) who himself often visited the "Mount of Megiddo" (Mt.
Carmel). In 1920 General Allenby (who came to be entitled Viscount Allenby
of Megiddo and Felixstowe) and his wife were taken by 'Abdu'l-Bahá to the
Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh at Bahjí (near 'Akká, not far from Mt. Carmel).[34] In his
God Passes By, Shoghi Effendi, summed up the effects the of "outcome" of
world war I as "that tremendous struggle" in Palestine, yeilded the complete
liberation of "the Heart and Centre of the [Bahá'í] Faith" from Turkish yoke.[35]

For Bahá'ís, theories associating "Armageddon" and Mt. Carmel are of great
theological interest since the Bahá'í world centre and certain sacred shrines are
situated on this mountain. It could be argued from the Bahá'í writings that the
"battle of Armageddon' has several senses; a semi-literalistic significance and
a spiritual or transcendentalised meaning. The literal sense is related in Bahá'í
sources to concrete 20th century warfare. A non-literal "Armageddon" is also
expressed in the varieties of anti-Bahá'í persecutions; in concrete and
"theological" attacks upon or controversies within this religion.

Since Megiddo is not far distant from the foot of Mt. Carmel, it could also
be taken to be indicative of the Mt. Carmel-centered Bahá'í religion, "the Heart
and Centre of the Faith"[36] which is engaged in a spiritual battle of Armageddon
("Mt. Carmel") against the forces of irreligion. Observing a regiment of soldiers
from his hotel window whilst in Stuggart Germany in early April 1913, 'Abdu'l-Bahá is reported to have said,

The Bahá'í Grand Army consist of the invisible angels of the Supreme
Concourse [al-malá' al-a'lá]. Our swords are the words of love and
life. Our armaments are the invisible armaments of Heaven. We are
fighting against the forces of darkness. O my soldiers, my beloved
soldiers! Foward! Foward! Have no fear of defeat; do not have failing
hearts. Our supreme commander is Bahá'u'lláh. From the heights of
glory he is directing the dramatic engagement. He commands us! Rush
foward! Rush foward! Show the strength of your arms. Ye shall scatter
the forces of ignorance. Your war confers life; their war brings death.
Your war is the cause of the illumination of all mankind. Your war
means victory upon victory. Their war is defeat upon defeat...[37]

The diffusion of the Bahá'í teachings is not infrequently spoken about in
"militaristic" terms; in terms of an Armageddon-type conflict of "light" and
"darkness." Before the first world war, Abdu'l-Bahá foresaw the victory of the
power of truth; "For at the end the illumination of the Kingdom will overwhelm
the darkness of the world..."[38]

On another occasion he reckoned that,

The darkness of error that hath enveloped the East and the West is, in
this most great cycle, battling with the light of Divine Guidance. Its
swords and its spears are very sharp and pointed; its army keenly
bloodthirsty.[39]

Certain of Shoghi Effendi's letters reflecting upon the challenges accompanying the spread of the Bahá'í religion use the language of an apocalyptic battle.
Echoing the Armageddon scenario he, with almost Churchillian rhetoric, wrote
the following in 1947 in "The Challenging Requirements of the Present Hour":

The stage is set. The hour is propitious. The signal is sounded. Bahá'u'lláh's spiritual battalions are moving into position. The initial clash
between the forces of darkness and the army of light ... is being
registered by the denizens of the Abhá Kingdom ["celestial worlds"].
The Author of the Plan that has set so titanic an enterprise in motion is
Himself mounted at the head of these battalions, and leads them on to
capture the cities of mens' hearts.[40]

In a cable of 5 June 1957 Shoghi Effendi drew attention to the fact that horrendous events and anti-Bahá'í activity foreshadowed the "dire contests" predicted by 'Abdu'l-Bahá which were destined to "range the Army of Light
against the forces of darkness, both secular and religious."[41]

Such apocalyptic and millennial terminology, such militaristic language
rooted in the Bible and the Qur'án is not uncommon in the writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi. In spreading the Bahá'í teachings, Bahá'ís believe that
they are working for the establishment of the "Kingdom of God" on earth "as it
is in heaven" (to cite the Lord's Prayer; cf. Mk. 8:38; Matt 16:27; Lk 29:6,
Bahá'í World 5:98). The "people of Bahá" as Bahá'u'lláh referred to his
followers, strive both indirectly for the "lesser peace" and more distantly and
directly for the "most great peace." In many of his letters Shoghi Effendi
counselled Bahá'ís to spread the unitative message of Bahá'u'lláh; not to obtain
a privileged place in an exclusivist "heaven" but in order to shift humanity away
from the consequences of its sometimes materialistic, racist and divisive ways.

An Armageddon scenario has continued after world war I. This terrible war
could be viewed as having had continuing ramifications on into world war II and
beyond. Shoghi Effendi saw world war I as a "terrible conflict, the first stage in
a titanic convulsion long predicted by Bahá'u'lláh..."[42] As early as 18 October
1927, in a letter to the national assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States and
Canada, in the course of surveying world trends and bemoaning the post-war
nationalism and rejection of a "world super-state", he anticipated world war II
when he stated that "another deadly encounter", a "cataclysm" that must
ultimately hasten "the approaching era of universal and lasting peace" will come
about.[43]

In a letter addressed to the national spiritual assembly of the United States
and Canada a year or so before the outbreak of world war II (dated 5 July 1938),
Shoghi Effendi reckoned the years ahead "pregnant" in the light of "...The twin
processes of internal disintegration and external chaos" which were being
"accelerated" daily and "inexorably moving towards a climax." Clearly
predicting world war II, he wrote that, "The rumblings that must precede the
eruption of those forces that must cause 'the limbs of humanity to quake' can
already be heard..." Reference was made to biblical terminology when he further
stated that '... The time of the end', 'the latter years', as foretold in the
Scriptures, are at long last upon us. The Pen of Bahá'u'lláh, the voice of
'Abdu'l-Bahá, have time and again, insistently and in terms unmistakable,
warned an unheeding humanity of impending disaster..."[44]

Shoghi Effendi wrote The Advent of DivineJustice in 1939 at the time of the
outbreak of the world war II. This terrible war is referred to in its opening lines
as "A tempest, unprecedented in its violence, unpredictable in its course" and
"catastrophic in its immediate effects."[45] That Hidden Word (Persian No. 63, see
above) mentioning an "unforseen calamity" and a "grievous retribution" was
cited in this connection.[46] In a communication of Shoghi Effendi dated 13
December 1941, world war II was clearly identified as the "most great
convulsion" prophesied throughout the ages,

[The] most great convulsion envisaged by [the] Prophets from Isaiah
to Bahá'u'lláh, catastrophic in violence, planetary in range [is]
assailing, at long last, [the] predominating nations [of the] Asiatic [and]
American continents.[47]

The two world wars do not, in Shoghi Effendi's viewpoint, close the period
of apocalyptic "calamity." In a letter to an individual Bahá'í dated 8 January
1949, he reckoned that, in the light of the continuing waywardness of humanity,
it was "too late to avert catastrophic trials" and anticipated "still more violent
upheaval and agony."[48] Later that same year he stated that "we do not know what
form the immediate future will take, anywhere" and mentioned that "great
suffering will be experienced."[49] Then also on 21 November 1949, Shoghi
Effendi's viewpoint was expressed as follows, "... We have no indication of
exactly what nature the [coming] apocalyptic upheaval will be; it might be
another war."[50] According to a letter written on his behalf in 1954, he "has never
stated how far-reaching the effects of a future war will be, or what other
catastrophes may accompany it or follow it."[51] On 19 July 1956, he stated that
"... the condition that the world is in is bringing many issues to a head. It would
be perhaps impossible to find a nation or people not in a state of crisis today. The
materialism, the lack of true religion and the consequent baser forces in human
nature which are being released, have brought the whole world to the brink of
probably the greatest crisis it has ever faced or will have to face."[52]

A variety of possible apocalyptic scenarios were foreseen by Shoghi Effendi
in the light of international affairs and the writings of Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá. While most notably in the late 1940s and early 1950s he both wrote and
spoke of terrible, cataclysmic trials to afflict humanity and destabilise humankind,[53] he nonetheless articulated a variety of possible futures which may or may
not be realised. Future events depend on interrelated, complex, numerous and
often all but unfathomable factors; such as, for example, the "positive" and
"negative" state of humanity (ever-changing segments of global society), that of
the constantly evolving Bahá'í and other religious communities and the
inscrutable operations of the divine providence. Futurology and "prophecy"
involves multiple possible futures. A third possibly nuclear world war, for
example, is not necessarily anticipated in the Bahá'í writings. Scores of conflicts
currently afflict humanity along with many tokens of international co-operation
and reconciliation. Apocalyptic trials have afflicted humanity for most of the
20th century; a century of "light" (progress) as well as a century of terrible
"darkness" (calamity). Current and increasing globalisation, is furthermore, both
renewing and destabilising.

The basic purpose of whatever does or does not comes to pass is, from the
Bahá'í point of view, viewed positively. Human history is fundamentally for the
furtherance of the unity in diversity of humankind. It has been stated that it is
often through cataclysmic difficulties that, " humanity can and must be welded
into some form of political unity  such as a World Federal State."[54]

Bahá'í scripture, then, has a realistic appraisal of "catastrophe" when it focuses upon the major wars and continuing socio-economic and other disruptions of the 20th century. It recognises various underlying dimensions of "catastrophe"; such as human activities revolving around materialism; racism and excessive nationalism. The decadent state of aspects of contemporary society may be seen to be an aspect of the end-time "catastrophe." Humanity is only now beginning to see itself as an international community in need of a world order and internationally regulated justice. "Lesser peace" secular co-operation among nations and peoples is beginning. Whether or not the many "catastrophes" currently afflicting humanity will precipitate yet another major war is something that cannot be predicted. Bahá'ís are certainly advised not to dwell on such a possibility and remain confident of the bright millennial future of mankind, the coming "most great peace."

The millennium

Among other things, millennium (Latin mílle = 1,000+ annus = "year") means "a thousand years": that thousand year or millennial period of peace which is often thought to follow the return of Christ or a final catastrophic event. An English equivalent to the term "millennium" is "chiliasm" which derives from the Greek words chil[ia] = "thousand' and ete sometimes translated millennium in Rev 20:1ff. It is, in fact, only in Revelation 20:1-6 that the millennium is explicitly mentioned in the Bible as a period which follows the virtual destruction of evil (see Rev. 20:2). It presupposes the reign of the returned Christ and is usually thought to precede the realisation of the "new heaven" and "new earth" prophesied in Revelation 21:1ff.

The historical placing of the millennium in the complex, multi-faceted
eschatological scheme of events has led to a number of theories three of which
have come to be labelled as: 1) premillennialism, 2) amillennialism and 3)
postmillennialism. These varieties of millenarianism all have devout evangelical
adherents today and may be briefly and sketchily summed as follows:

1) Premillennialism  the belief that the return of Christ will be preceded
by various "signs" including wars, famines and earthquakes and followed
by the "end of the world", the "resurrection of the dead" and an ensuing
millennial peace and righteousness. This view was dominant in the early
Christian centuries being articulated by Papias (d.c. 130?), Justyn Martyr (d.
c. 165), Irenaeus (d. c. 190) and Lactantius (d. 320) and later cautiously and
variously revived by a number of Protestant reformers.

2) Amillennialism  the conviction that human affairs will not culminate in
full millennial peace before the "end of the world" and second coming of
Christ on earth. The millennium of Rev. 20 is currently the heavenly reign
of Christ and the deceased saints though a future "kingdom of God" as an
earthy millennium will ultimately come about. Becoming dominant after the
conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine (d. 337) and championed by
Augustine of Hippo (d. 430), this perspective became normative during the
middle ages.

3) Postmillennialism  the view that the "kingdom of God" now gradually
being extended and realised through Christian preaching and teaching will
result in that peace which is the millennium. There then follows the return
of Christ and the resurrection and final judgement. This perspective was
espoused by many 19th Protestant century Christian millennial factions.[55]

Other Christians, including the erudite Origen (d. circa 254 CE), have interpreted the millennium spiritually in terms of the spiritual growth of the soul in this world and the next. This to some degree, for example, foreshadows the existentially oriented interpretation of New Testament eschatology by the great Marburg theologian Rudolf Bultmann (1884-1976), in which the individual encounters the end-time not as the goal of cosmological history, but by virtue of an openness towards the future in the present.

Baháí interpretations of the millennium

While an originally Zoroastrian dualistic time-scheme of world eras  "This [perishable] Age" and "The [eternal] Age to Come"  is "an essential feature of
apocalyptic"[56] since antiquity, the scheme of history has been divided into
millennial periods from the early Christian era. On the basis of such texts as
Genesis 2:2 and Psalm 90:4, six periods of 1,000 years were envisaged as being
consummated by a seventh millennium, the commencement of the era of
fulfilment  though there is also the notion of the "timeless new world of the
eighth day" which follows a kind of "messianic sabbath millennial day."[57]
Notable is the foundational early Christian Epistle of Barnabas (c. 125CE?):

Notice particularly, my children, the significance of he finished them
in six days [Gen. 2:2a]. What is meant is, that He is going to bring the
world to an end in six thousand years, since with Him one day means
a thousand years; witness His own saying, Behold, a day of the Lord
shall be as a thousand years [Psalm 90:4]. Therefore, my children, in
six days  six thousand years, that is  there is going to be an end to
everything. After that, he rested on the seventh day [Gen 2:2b]
indicates that when His Son [Christ] returns, He will put an end to the
years of the Lawless One, pass sentence on the godless, transform the
sun and moon and stars, and then, on the seventh Day, enter into His
true rest.[58]

The Bahá'í interpretation is of the millennium is basically premillennial.
Asked the questions, "When is the millennium? Will I see it?", 'Abdu'l-Bahá in
one of his tablets wrote,

Concerning the one thousand years as recorded in the Book [Bible]: It
signifieth the beginning of this Manifestation until the end of its
predominance throughout the contingent world; because this Cause is
great, its powers are growing and its signs are dazzling. It shall
continue in elevation, exaltation, growth, promulgation and promotion
until it shall reach the apex of its glory in one thousand years  as the
Day of this Manifestation is one thousand years. Thou shalt see its
conquering power, its manifest dominion, its eternal might and its
everlasting glory.[59]

It is thus presupposed that for Bahá'ís, the millennium began in 1260/1844
when Sayyid 'Alí Muhammad, the Báb declared his mission to Mullá Husayn,
the first believer (sábiqun) and "Letter of the Living' (al-hurúf al-hayy) whose
coming to faith was, symbolically speaking (see above), a millennial, collective
"resurrection" of all humanity. It was also in the same year that Bahá'u'lláh
became a Bábí through the instrumentality of this first Bábí believer; very
possibly as a result of a perusal of a portion of the Báb's first major work, the
Qayyúm al-asmá' (mid. 1844 CE).

When Bahá'u'lláh semi-secretly declared his mission on the outskirts of
Baghdad (Iraq) in 1863, one of the key threefold aspects of this declaration,
according to a Persian tablet of the 'Akká period revealed in the name of his
amanuensis (Mírzá Áqá Ján Khadim-Alláh), was his announcement that no
succeeding Manifestation of God would appear for 1000 [solar] years.[60] The
Bábí-Bahá'í era is to extend for at least a millennium when another Messenger
of God will renew this latest expression of the eternal religion of God. Hence
Shoghi Effendi wrote that the "... the Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh will last for
at least one thousand years."[61] The Bahá'í millennium, lasting for at least 1000
solar years, will mature into a future condition of global peace, justice and well-being. First there will be an imminent secular peace and later a future global
spiritual peace characterised as the "most great peace." At the conclusion of his
The Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh (written in 1934), Shoghi Effendi indicates that
the "New World Order" of Bahá'u'lláh has as "its consummation" the advent of
that "golden millennium" which he defines (alluding to Rev. 11:15) as "the Day
when the kingdoms of this world shall have become the Kingdom of God
Himself, the Kingdom of Bahá'u'lláh."[62]

The Bahá'í millennium of peace is not a naive utopian pipe-dream for it
exists in embryonic form now; Bahá'í communities exist in thousands of
communities internationally and strive to attain and contribute to individual and
collective peace. Neither is it an era of social or spiritual perfection. Rather the
Bahá'í millennium implies a greater degree of collective security, spiritual
progress, and global justice and unity. It presupposes an ongoing and balanced
spiritualisation of humanity. For Bahá'ís, the "millennium" is on one level a new
era of prophetic fulfilment. It can indicate the long-awaited global peace
symbolically reflected in, for example, the Isaianic image of the ultimately
harmonious feeding activity of the "Wolf" and the "Lamb" (Isaiah 65:25; cf.
11:6a), understood to symbolise diverse "nations" led by a "little child" (Isa.
11:6b ) who shall help erect  to skip testaments and indicate Bahá'í exegesis -
the "New Jerusalem" (Rev. 21) of the Bahá'í Faith. In Bahá'í exegesis the
"millennium" can be viewed as the global working out and establishment of
those practical and spiritual principles laid down by the central figures of the
Bahá'í religion.

End Notes

'Abdu'l-Bahá, 'Abdu'l-Bahá in Canada (Montreal: NSA of the Bahá'ís of Canada, 1962) 34-35.

In explaining the words "the second woe is past; and behold the third woe cometh quickly" (Rev. 11:14), 'Abdu'l-Bahá cited Ezekiel 2:3 and reckoned as "woes" the three successive religions of Muhammad (Islam), the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh (see Some Answered Questions [Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1981] chapter XI on Rev 11:14).

'Abdu'l-Bahá is reported to have interpreted this text referring to the fact that a "great disturbance," a "great catastrophe" or terrible "calamity" will happen in the world after the 1335 day [=year] period referred to in Daniel 12:12 have passed (cf. Ruth White, 'Abdu'l-Bahá and the Promised Age [J. J. Little and Ives 1927] 174-5).

Advent 3. This war was viewed by the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith as a "great and mighty wind of God"; a "judgement of God" (Advent 4); "a retributory calamity and an act of holy and supreme discipline"; "at once a visitation from God and a cleansing process for all mankind". It was viewed theologically by Shoghi Effendi as something "unimaginably glorious in its ultimate consequences" (Advent 3-4).

From a letter was written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, dated 19 July 1956 cited in Bahá'í News 307 (Sep. 1956): 1-2.

One of the most concrete apocalyptic predictions of Shoghi Effendi is contained in the letter of 28 July 1954 printed in Citadel of Faith 126. There a possible Soviet (nuclear?) bombing of racist American cities seems to be anticipated. Certain 20th century Bahá'í factions were distinctly apocalyptic in their orientation. Details cannot be gone in to here though reference, for example, might be made to R.W. Balch et. al., "When Bombs Drop, Reactions to Disconfirmed Prophecy in a Millennial Sect," Sociological Perspectives 26 (1983): 137-158, and "Fifteen Years of Failed Prophecy, Coping with Cognitive Dissonance in a Bahá'í sect," in Millennium, Messsiahs and Mayhem: Contemporary Apocalyptic Movements, ed. Thomas Robbins et al. (New York, London: Routledge, 1997) 73-90.

From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, dated 5 September 1954 cited in Lights 130.

For further details see Robert G. Clouse, The Meaning of The Millennium: Four Views (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1977) 8; Massyngbearde Ford, ABD IV: 832-4; Malcolm Bull (ed.), Apocalypse Theory and the Ends of the World (Oxford: Blackwell, 1995).